what a night, huh? but, um, can the test drive be over now? head back to the dealership? [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today.

. from flood warpings to wind advisories we are on storm watch tonight as the strongest in a series of storms pounds the bay area. we have live team coverage on the areas hardest hit. wet roads and drunk driving a dangerous mix, some troubling new numbers and where police are cracking down tonight. >> a gun is a tool, the problem is the criminal. >> and the debate over gun control heats up and why one lawmaker says the nra has it

all wrong. >> complete bay area news coverage starts right now. this is ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. good evening and thanks for joining us for this special late edition of ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 i'm jane katsuyama in for heather holmes. >> i'm ken wayne. a series of powerful storms slams the bay area. we're on storm watch with team coverage and we begin with ken pritchett with how wind affected people's plans today. >> reporter: ken, about half an hour ago it was a foggy drive over the bay bridge. right now it's as clear as it can be and that is how quickly things have changed. earlier this afternoon wind advisories for bay area bridges and the windiest we found was

this morning in pacifica. with winds this strong, and waves this high, there was little doubt that the pacifica pier would be closed. >> i think the mayan apocalypse is running a few days late. >> reporter: we're told that the waves crashed he over the pier. >> it's so windy. >> elsewhere this storm led to localized flooding in scattered parts of the bay area. despite the mess, the constant rain, and wind, people braved the storm in union square. >> the flags are whipping. it's crazy loud. >> carrie keyes was one of many people who battled the wind to keep their umbrellas upright and right side out. apparently no matter the

weather the time for holiday shopping is short. >> well, obviously it's not keeping us away. [ laughter ] we don't mind it. >> well, with the last bit of daylight we have here, you can see the line between the clouds and blu skies over the coming up next we arrived at treasure island about 5:00 and that is the time that the primary part of the storm morphed south of here. on treasure island, ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. from ken we'll go to the north bay where debora villalon has been monitoring conditions there and a sinkhole that opened up earlier today. >> reporter: that is right, sewn ♪ [ music ] ♪ marin, napa all counties battered hard by the wind and the rain. and we're looking at one of the after-effects a sinkhole that closed a road here. road crews spent several hours

getting stoney point road patched, where it intersected madron road. they just don't trust stoney point from collapsing completely. already the 4' culvert under the roll has failed on both sides and water has erode the soil around and under, it creating the sinkhole about 10' deep. the culvert was already failing due to age and the heavy run- off just finished it off. >> with the last three days, you know, this much rain short amount of time, it just causes a lot of havoc. we have a lot of roads closed right now due to flooding and it's just too much water in a short amount of time. >> reporter: and this is stoney point road, just south of here, in petaluma, there has been a flash flood warning in effect for most of the day and for good reason. you can see the streets and fields are overwhelmed. this mobile-home park had a fire crew posted there, but residents tell me that they worked hard to keep their

drains cleared and didn't have any problems. we're back live at the sinkhole that has been patched up. the road is open. but this is of course just one of many trouble spots? north bay. we'll be watching for more and have the latest for you tonight at 10:00. debora villalon, ktvu channel 2 news. floor flood warns having expired for the petaluma area, but we still have heavy rain across parts of bay area, really to the east bay the south bay and santa cruz mountains. san mateo county and parts of santa clara county extending into portions of the santa cruz county. this is a flash flood warning for the town of pescadero until 7:00. the river levels have been near

flood stage and out towards san lorenzo river and felton grove area. a flash flood warning in place until 6::30 right now that river is just above flood stage. you can see the activity in the santa cruz mountains. the reds do indicate some intense downpours and our estimation here .10" an hour to .45" an hour. the wider perspective in parts of the south bay and parts east bay, the yellows and reds indicating those heavier down powers. pours. and also around the fremont area, still some downpours to report in this region. as we move the maps up to the north, the activity has been back off quite a bit, but once again, a flood warning post for the napa river. just cresting right above flood stage this evening at st. helena, 8:00 for mapa river at

napa, 10:00. and the russian river at guerneville should be cresting below flood stage. that so for tomorrow morning at 11:00. coming up we'll take a look at very impressive rainfall totals and your forecast for christmas. less weather is causing significant delays at san francisco airport. a manager tells us that departing flights are 45-90 minutes behind schedule and at least 25 flights have been canceled. mineta san josi is reporting a handful of delays. we have a link on ktvu.com so you can track your flight. just look under "hot topics." pg&e crews are working to restore power to thousands of bay area customers of the most of the outages are in the north bay where almost 4,000 customers are still without power there. are about 700 customers out of power on the peninsula. 440 in east bay, 360 in the south bay. and about 70 in san francisco.

wet roads may have been a factor in a series of traffic accidents. emeryville a two-car crash on 580 eastbound slowed traffic to a crawl. the accident happened before the macarthur maze. an ambulance was on the scene, but the highway patrol hasn't said if anyone was injured. in hayward an accident happened around 2:30 in the nourish lanes near the a street exit. the highway patrol has not said what caused the pile-up. officials at squaw valley say three snowboarders triggered an avalanche this morning. authorities say two people were caught in the avalanche and both of them suffered minor injuries. the squaw valley fire department says it sent seven

dogs to serve for additional victims. everyone was accounted for about an hour later. our stormwatch continues on ktvu.com. police officers across the bay area are crackdown on drunk drivers tonight. ktvu's eric rasmussen joins us live from fremont where a dui checkpoint is scheduled and eric sounds like they are not just looking for drunk drives. >> reporter: you right, they are on the lookout for distracted drivers. here in fremont they hoped to set up a checkpoint in the next couple of hours. however, they said if these heavy rains keep up they could cancel it and call a saturation patrol. either way it's part of a massive crackdown that led to double the number of arrests compared to this same day a year ago. as if the pouring rain and wet roads weren't dangerous enough. >> you think a lot of people are drinking and driving out there? >> yes. yes. it's a holiday that is what they do. >> reporter: the california highway patrol

reports that drunk-driving has already caused 15 fatal crashes during this first part of the long holiday weekend. that is parade to just three deaths during the same period a year-ago. >> when you mix alcohol and the rain you have a bad recipe and it's usually a recipe for disaster. >> reporter: in the first two days of maximum enforcement period, the chp says there have been three fatal crashes and 111 dui arrests. >> we're seeing a lot of people being involved in collisions because they play have a little bit of alcohol on board and driving way over the speed limit. >> reporter: we saw that for ourselves. driving on 880 this afternoon, each chp officer in the bay area is sending out special strike teams to look for drunk and distracted drivers in addition, to dui checkpoint like the one planned by fremont police department tonight. >> i'm sorry they can't be with their familiess, but as a citizen fremont i greatly appreciate it. >> reporter: another example of what can happen in all of this rain, a

couple of hours ago we came on this crash involving five cars in fremont. however, there is no indication that this particular one was alcohol-related. live in fremont, eric rasmussen, ktvu channel 2 news. firefighters managed it rescue a woman trapped inside a burning apartment in east palo alto this morning. the crews arrived at the complex on east o'keefe street after midnight. they found the woman up on the second floor. she was taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. two other women escaped unhurt. one firefighter did suffer from smoke inhalation, but did not need mediggal treatment. investigators toll us that the pot left on the stove may have started the fire. the head of the national rifle association today defend his group's refusal to consider any form of gun control. >> look, a gun is a tool. the problem is the criminal. every police officer that walks the street knows if you want to

control violent crime take violent criminals off the streets. >> on friday the nra called for an armed guards in schools as the best way to prevent shoots like the one in newtown. a lawmaker with an a-rateing from the nra disagrees that armed guards in schools should be the only solution. >> where do we stop? are we then going to go into preschools in are we going to go into parochial schools. >> there was an armed individual at columbine years ago and it didn't prevent that tragedy. so i think we need a comprehensive approach. >> virginia senator mike warner called for a look at high volume gun magazines and mental healthcare. >> it's a moment to reflect on who we are to each other. >> actor danny glover takes

part in a pray for peace. and a lesser known draw to san francisco's union square and we'll introduce you to a doorman that you may already know who he is. he is an icon for the holidays in the city.

. one man is dead and another wounded following a shooting in oakland last night. it happened just after 6:00 on

32nd street near chestnut. when officers arrive they had found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. police say the wounded man is in critical, but stable condition and their name ofs have not been released. following the mass shooting in connecticut, ann rubin explains that they want faith communities to lead the charge to end gun violence. >> reporter: inside the 3rd baptist church in san francisco, what began as a prayer for peace quickly turned into a call for action. >> we just need more safety. >> church members say the connecticut shooting has drawn attention to a problem that they deal with daily. gun violence. >> it's happening right now and it's come on, it's time to stop all of this. >> reporter: and so after this sunday's service they found a townhall forum to answer questions and spark discussion. >> it's a moment for us to reflect about who we are, who we are to each other? that is our relationship to what is happening? . >> reporter:

the guest of honor, absenter and activist danny glover and reverend jeremiah wright, formerly of the president obama's church. >> those who live with that reality daily and in light of what is happening in newtown, connecticut, don't you give up, because it's time for you to act refrigerate church leaders believe they can start within their own communities. >> those in power, let's talk to the power about what we can do come together to change this before we kill each other. >> reporter: a group of san francisco faith leaders actually met with the mayor this week to discuss what they can be doing to address the issue of gun violence and they hope to have more similar meetings in the months to come. well, in the past two hours i just stepped out and it was pouring rain outside our studio in oakland. it's been getting a lot of rain across the bay area. mark tamayo joins us with a look at the totals and one area that really got a drenching. >> the coastal hills the

numbers continue to pick up and add up. you might be surprised by the numbers that i'm about to show you. the rf started this morning and really intensifying by midmorning into the early port angeles of the afternoon. you can see santa rosa coming up as we can see here nearly 2 inch. but look at boulder creek, over 5" of rain. san josi nearly an inch. san francisco just about an inch and oakland 1.25". fremont just over 1.5". we're still tracking moderate to heavy rain across the region right now. all thought coverage has been decreasing on live stormtracker 2, but we're watching the santa cruz mountains with the excessive rainfall amounts. we'll check out the south bay for san josi, the darker shades evergreen and yellows reflect heavy rainfall towards milpitas and livermore, this activity just beginning to drift to the

south and east. basically just a few lingering showers out towards the brentwood area and around antioch. those yellow and reds showing up around highway 4. and up in the north bay, you can pick out of the coverage backing off quite a bit, but we have some heavier downpours closer to the concord area. as far as snow, actually just snapped this picture a few minutes ago. highway 9, you can see the snow piling up. we still have a storm warning in place until 10:00 this evening. chains currently required on 80 and 50. travel will be better because cold front is heading to the south and east and could be a rain producer for south california. we have a dry forecast for your monday. as we approach christmas day, we'll by bringing in more cloud coverage. the forecast models increasing

the probability of rain as we head into tuesday for christmas day. in the meantime we're tracking rain showers primarily to the south and east. so we are at 8:00 this evening and look at, this by 11:00 you are going to see lots of clear skies out there. a few extra high clouds as we head into monday afternoon. tomorrow will be dry and temperatures on the cool side. mainly in the 50s, livermore, 53 and antioch, 52. it's not going to be a strong storm, but still enough to impact the roadways. so watch out for that tuesday. chance of showers into wednesday with your weekend always in view, maybe a chance of showers by saturday. over the next few hours we'll keep an eye on the rising river levels especially for the napa river. >> thank you, mark. well, a doorman at an historic san francisco hotel is spreading holiday cheer.

>> photojournalist greg grinsell introduces us to the icon. >> . >> happy holidays. nice to see you. jimmy, how are you? how are you doing? nice to see you. >> starting by 37th summer next year. i have been through 42 uniforms. >> how are doug? >> 37 years? >> yes, pretty good, huh? good to see you. >> good to see you. taxi? all right, i will give this one a moment. here is the taxi for you. >> you hail up to 200 cabs a day. >> have a nice day. you carry up 200 to a thousand suitcases. >> there you go. you want this back here? you need a taxi today? i will get you a taxi. >> tom is the bomb. [ laughter ] he is excellent. i love to look at him. he is just so cute and he is always johnny on the spot. >> good to see you.

how is the season? pretty good. >> look at his colors, he say decoration. i would put him on my christmas tree any day. >> you get your photo taken up to 500 times a day, so you have to look good everyday on this job. [ laughter ] >> let me get a picture with my puppy. >> it's a good shot. all right. i got voted the most photographed guy in san francisco. >> you are a legend in my mind. >> thank you very much. >> tom is a fixture here in san francisco. and when we think of san francisco, we think of tom. and so walking down the street and seeing tom here is really special for us. >> merry christmas. >> i will see you real soon. >> everybody knows him. then you know that he has made my day. >> oh, yeah. oh, yeah. oh, yeah. oh, yeah. it's so funny, i go taxi or oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

>> you need a three-time mini series. >> oh, yeah. oh, yeah. i start dodd it 25 years ago and now everybody does it. oh, yeah, oh, yeah. >> all of my friends in the san francisco police department and fire department come by. >> he makes everybody feel really special. >> on my 30th year they put my name in the ground here. it's unbelievable to get your hollywood walk of fame. i'm on dolls, postcards, room keys. they market the whole hotel around me here. i wouldn't trade this job for anybody. it has opened a lot of doors. tony blair when was prime minister and president phorid. ford. i have gotten a lot of miles out of this uniform. where are you from? >> we're from boston. >> that is great. i do the boston marathons there. >> oh, you do? >> yeah. i love the holidays. when i was little i would come down with my parents and walk around union square and now i get paid to be here.

you have to have a gimmick and this is a great one. happy holidays. see you real soon. thanks. so bye-bye. >> and again that was gregory grinsell one of our photojournalists who put that together on our special holiday in focus day that airs christmas day at noon and 5:30 on ktvu and 7:00 p.m. on k icu tv 36. moving on, thousands of nurses getting ready to walk off the job. still to come the reason behind their christmas eve strike. a key senator weighs in on the fiscal cliff and why he is confident a deal will be made before the year ends.

. thousands of registered nurses plan to walk out of bay area sutter health hospitals on christmas eve of the one-day strike is part of an ongoing battle between the california nurses association over health benefits and sick days. you are looking at video of their last picket about a month ago. all of hospitals plan to have fill-in nurses. >> a key senator express optimism that congress will avoid the fiscal cliff before the year ends. >> speaker boehner was $200 billion higher on spending cuts and out of a $4 trillion budget that doesn't seen

insurmountable so i hope they keep talking. >> congress is expected to be back in session thursday and without a deal, tax hikes and deep spending cuts will be triggered on january 1st. coming up tonight on the 10:00 news from flooded roadways to sinkholes. our stormwatch coverage continue as a powerful storm leaves behind a mess in the bay area. >> thank you for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. >> we'll see you the next time newsbreaks and we're on-line at ktvu.com. we'll see you tonight at 10:00